How To Quickly Clear iOS App Icon Badges Using 3D Touch

I’m not entirely sure if this holds true for other iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users, but I’ve always found it hard to leave notification badges alone. There’s something about those tiny notification counts that appear atop folders and app icons that makes me want to open the apps and check whatever alerts they have to offer, if only to get rid of the red circles. I know I can turn them off from the Notifications section in the Settings app – and for certain apps, I do – but I don’t want to miss out on having my Home screen display pending notifications either.

For those who suffer from the same OCD-induced need to make badges disappear or just want to clear their Home screen for future notifications, there are more than a few solutions in the jailbreak realm. Perhaps one of the better additions to this genre comes in the form of a new collaboration between Creatix (the team behind several 3D Touch-themed tweaks) and SUPERGIU called QuickClear.

QuickClear is a simple, free Cydia tweak that adds the option to clear any app’s notification badge from its Quick Actions menu, which is invoked using 3D Touch. This doesn’t mean the tweak is limited to working with Apple’s new 3D Touch-capable iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, as it will also work with older devices that are jailbroken on iOS 9 and have a Quick Actions-enabling tweak such as Forcy, RevealMenu or Creatix’s very own HOPP’N tweak installed.

The new tweak doesn’t require configuration. Once it is installed, every time an app icon gets overlaid with a badge, the tweak will automatically add a Clear Badge option at the bottom of its 3D Touch menu, complete with a mention of the notification count you’re about to clear. Simply invoke the app’s Quick Actions menu (with a hard-press if you’re using an iPhone 6s or on its icon or, if you’re using one of the aforementioned tweaks, also offer long-press and upward swipe gestures to do the same), hit said option and you’re done.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Quick Actions menu, on an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, the menu can be invoked by hard-pressing an app’s icon, and if you’re on an older device using one of the aforementioned 3D Touch-enabling tweaks, you have a software-based implementation of the hard-press invocation as well as long-press and upward swipe gestures at your disposal. We tested the tweak on an iPhone 6 with HOPP’N installed.

QuickClear is available for free on the Creatix repository at repo.ioscreatix.com. The repo isn’t one of Cydia’s defaults; you’ll have to add it manually from Sources > Edit > Add to download the tweak.

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I'm an engineer, blogger, and graphic designer who loves creating and experimenting with different forms of online content when he's not looking for a mix of inspiration and escape in PC gaming, comic books and anime. You can find me on Twitter and Google+.